Working, or being exploited?

In Aotearoa New Zealand, we find ourselves regularly short of local workers, possibly because locals know they can get better quality work elsewhere, which is less physically hard, is not toiling outside all day in all weathers, and pays better. I encountered this shift in how we see manual labour - as 'peasant' work - clearly illustrated by the report from the Australian senate hearings as to why their horticulture and agricultural sector needed to import labour (Commonwealth of Australia, 2006, p. 13). As New Zealand attitudes have similarly shifted, local horticultural businesses now import workers in temporarily through a system known as the Recognised Seasonal Employer (RSE) scheme (Immigration New Zealand, 2023a).

In Marlborough, 53% of the working population have full time jobs, with 17.4% having part time work (Statistics New Zealand, 2018) which is higher than other places in New Zealand. However, labourers make up 19.2% of the workforce compared to the New Zealand average of 11.3% (Statistics New Zealand, 2018).

Labouring work in the Marlborough vineyards is carried out during hot summers and cold winters, including grape harvesting, pruning, wire lifting, bud-rubbing, spraying and mowing. Work is physically tough and is often paid in 'piece' rates (Beer & Lewis, 2007). Demand for workers, particularly at the busier times of the year, such as harvest, is high. However, the physical effort required, and the working conditions, are insufficiently offset by the wages paid (Commonwealth of Australia, 2006, p. 13). This deters many New Zealanders from taking on this type of work.

The RSE scheme started the mid 2000s, allowing a capped number of workers from our Pacific neighbours to come and work in Aotearoa in primary industries (Whatman et al., 2017). Initially 8,000 RSE workers were allowed into New Zealand in 2007, but by the 2022-2023 season, the number had risen to 19,000 workers (Immigration New Zealand, 2023b).

Recent media reports have highlighted the unfairness and poor working conditions for many RSE workers, and for other labourers who work in the vineyards. The Equal Opportunities Commissioner from the Human Rights Commission found poor treatment was systemic and a version of "modern day slavery" (Fonseka, 2022). The Commonwealth of Australia (2017) had a range of hearings exploring human trafficking, modern slavery and decent work, then enacting the Modern Slavery Act 2018 to redress these issues across the Tasman.  

To prevent employers and contractors continuing to give the industry a bad name, it has been recommended that New Zealand ratify the International Convention, and to actually work to protect migrant worker rights. It has been suggested that the RSE scheme be reviewed using a "human rights lens"; that RSE workers be allowed to change employers without being in breach of Immigration New Zealand visas; that workers have plain English contracts; that conditions be inspected; and that employer pay deductions and rules be made transparent (shades of the 1930s 'company store' seems to be recurring); along with pastoral care rights being stated and upheld (Fonseka, 2022). It also appears that workers have not been able to return home, should they want to.

We like to think of ourselves as being an egalitarian society. It appears instead that - if no one is watching - we can be ruthless overloads and treat people as if they were medieval peasants. It should come as no surprise, then, that we wonder no longer want to do "peasant" work.

Kate

References:

Beer, C. & Lewis, N. (2007). Labouring in the vineyards of Marlborough: Experiences, meaning and policy. Journal of Wine Research, 17(2), 95-106. https://doi.org/10.1080/09571260601004187

Commonwealth of Australia. (2006). Perspectives on the future of the harvest labour force [report]. Australian Senate Standing Committee on Employment, Workplace Relations and Education. https://www.aph.gov.au/~/media/wopapub/senate/committee/eet_ctte/completed_inquiries/2004_07/contract_labour/report/report_pdf.ashx

Commonwealth of Australia. (2017). An inquiry into human trafficking, slavery and slavery-like practices [report]. https://www.aph.gov.au/Parliamentary_Business/Committees/Joint/Law_Enforcement/Humantrafficking45/~/media/Committees/le_ctte/Humantrafficking45/report.pdf

Fonseka, D. (2022, December 12). RSE workers being treated ‘like slaves', Equal Employment Opportunity Commissioner says. Stuff. https://www.stuff.co.nz/business/130729008/rse-workers-being-treated-like-slaves-equal-employment-opportunity-commissioner-says

Immigration New Zealand. (2023a). Recognised Seasonal Employer (RSE) Scheme. https://www.immigration.govt.nz/employ-migrants/scheme/emp/recognised-seasonal-employer-rse-scheme

Immigration New Zealand. (2023b). Recognised Seasonal Employer (RSE) scheme research. https://www.immigration.govt.nz/about-us/research-and-statistics/research-reports/recognised-seasonal-employer-rse-scheme

Modern Slavery Act 2018. Commonwealth of Australia. https://www.legislation.gov.au/Details/C2018A00153

Statistics New Zealand. (2018). Census place summaries – Marlborough region. https://www.stats.govt.nz/tools/2018-census-place-summaries/marlborough-region#work-income-and-unpaid-activities

Whatman, R., Bedford C., & Bedford, R. (2017, July 6-7). RSE: the ghosts of schemes, past, present and yet to come [Paper presentation]. RSE Employers' Conference, 6-7 July 2017, Blenheim, New Zealand. https://devpolicy.org/pdf/blog/RSE10thPaper_WhatmanBedfordFinal.pdf

* Kate Horrey kindly prepared much of the material for this post

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Adobe Acrobat advanced search

I often find myself frustrated by the search function in Windows, and in Adobe Acrobat. I have a fix for Windows using FileSearchEX - a great piece of search kit which is so much more nuanced than the native Windows search (here). However, I constantly find myself stuck using Acrobat. There appeared to be no way to search for a word including spaces; for example, "etic". A 'normal' Ctrl & F search will get me empathetic, sympathetic, emetic, and so on. Even if I enter a space beforehand (e.g. " etic"), the Adobe search function ignores it. 

And then I discovered that there was a layer of search in Adobe Acrobat which I had not plumbed! There is an easy way to search for - for example - "etic" as an entire word, and not have "empathetic" show up time after time in Acrobat. All we need do is to use Advanced Search, which we open and start a search by keying Shift & Ctrl & F (Wright, 2020). 

This search allows us to tick the "whole word only" option which means when we are searching for "etic" we only get etic. Phew!

Sam

References:

Wright, E. (2020). How to Search Multiple PDFs with Adobe Acrobat’s Advanced Search. Erin Wright Writing. https://erinwrightwriting.com/search-multiple-pdfs/

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Parsons, SO and DOTS

In Wendy Patton's book detailing the history of career development in Australia (2019), chapter one reviews the roots of the career field. Beginning with Frank Parsons (1909) three step gap analysis model - self-knowledge, occupational knowledge, analyse the gap - it struck me suddenly that these are the first two steps of Tony Watt's DOTS model (Law & Watts, 1977).

The DOTS model is (Law & Watts, 1977): D (decision learning); O (opportunity awareness); T (transition learning); S (self-awareness). DOTS 'should' be reordered as SODT; self, opportunity, decision, transition, which tends to more reflect how we make career decisions (read more on DOTS here). Frank Parson's three step gap analysis is self-knowledge - S - and occupational knowledge - O (1909). Or 'SO':

1. S, self-knowledge. We need “a clear understanding of [ourselves]" (Parsons, 1909, p. 5)
2. O, occupational knowledge. We need to have "a knowledge of the requirements and conditions of success [...] in different lines of work" (p. 5)
3. What are the gaps? Be critical, and consider the "true reasoning on the relations of these two groups of facts” (p. 5).

Parson's gap analysis model (1909) gave us a pseudo-scientific method to guide our occupational choices, cited as "a critical component in the accept[ance] and institutionalization of this new field" of career development (Pope, 2015, p. 4). Further, Tony Watts certainly helped us all by including/defining/codifying D and T: the process of decision-making and in considering how we affect a transition into our chosen field though (Law & Watts, 1977). Life, and life's decisions, are a lot more complicated than when we simply inherited a trade - or the farm - from our parents (Patton, 2019).

In New Zealand DOTS this is called 'SODA' (Careers New Zealand, 2023) and in Australia, 'SODI' (Graduate Careers Australia, 2023):

S	"Self-awareness: Where you become aware of your interests, skills, values and abilities. You work out what lifestyle you want and your career goals."	"Self-awareness – the individual having knowledge about and understanding of their own personal development. Self-awareness in a careers context involves an understanding of the kind of personal resources (both actual and potential) they bring to the world."
O	"Option-awareness: Where you explore different career options and compare them."	"Opportunity awareness – an understanding of the general structures of the world of work, including career possibilities and alternative pathways."
D	"Deciding: Where you choose the best career option based on what you know about yourself and your career exploration."	"Decision making and planning – an understanding of how to make career decisions, and being aware of pressures, influences, styles, consequences and goal setting."
A/I	"Acting and planning: Where you create a plan and take action."	"Implementing plans – having the appropriate skill level in a range of areas to be able to translate job and career planning into reality."

But they are really the same old DOTS (Law & Watts, 1977)... which is also half of Parsons (1909), right back at the beginning of career practice.

Thank you, Wendy Patton, for allowing me to see this with fresh eyes.

Sam

References:

Careers New Zealand. (2023). The SODA model of career planning. https://www.careers.govt.nz/plan-your-career/start-to-plan-or-change-your-career/where-do-i-start/#cID_7143

Graduate Careers Australia. (2023). A Career Planning and Development Model: Using the SODI Model for Self-Assessment. https://www.graduatecareers.com.au/files/content/view/full/372/

Law, B. & Watts, A. G. (1977). Schools, Careers and Community: A study of some approaches to careers education in schools. Church Information Office.

Parsons, F. (1909). Choosing a Vocation. Gay & Hancock Ltd.

Patton, W. (2019). Career Development as a Partner in Nation Building Australia: origins, history, and foundations for the future. Brill Sense.

Pope, M. (2015). Chapter 1 Career intervention: From the industrial to the digital age. In P. J. Hartung, M. L. Savickas, & W. B. Walsh (Eds.) APA handbook of career intervention (Vol. 1, pp. 3–19). American Psychological Association.

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How to find and replace in a blogger post

My blog was created on the venerable Google platform of Blogger. No problem with that, but the world has moved on in the past twenty years, and some things have always been a bit "you can't get there from here"... although ardent Blogger fans have often created code to help those less able users to do most things we need to do. But there is one small thing that I keep returning to: how to do a find and replace within a blog post.

You see, the blank spaces at the end of a paragraph in html code is often replaced with the " " character, or non-breaking space. This is usually a very handy trick that we use between elements which we don't want to line-break on, such as $5: we would enter this as "$ 5" to ensure that this all stayed together. However, when this non-breaking line space happens automatically at a paragraph end, the word wrapping often happens on the previous word, leaving line orphans in odd places.

Also, at the beginning of a post, if my first paragraph is too short, in my 30 word blog roll summary it looks like I have made a mistake and not left a trailing space after a full stop. So I at least want my first paragraph or two to have paragraph end trailing spaces.

So I tend to get rid of the auto-magically created " "s, or at least code them out as I go. I can do a "find" - easy peasy - simply Ctrl & F when in html blogger view, and I get a wee box at the top of the page that I can enter my find item into. However, "find and replace" function is not an easy find. Thanks to chiliNUT (2021) I can Ctrl, Shift & F, and I get a box for the replacement text (in the same place as the find box), then I need to hit enter to get the second box in the same place, where I can enter my replacement text. Note that if you are using this that there are not TWO boxes: one for find, and one for replace. This is a single box, activated by a keyboard 'Enter'.

There is an option to copy the html out into Notepad or Word, edit there, and return it, but this is a bit of a fag to do. I use the Shift & Ctrl & F option mostly, but in the past I used Notepad a lot (chiliNUT, 2021).

However, there is a third way to replace ALL the code or text in your Blogger blog. I have used this for broken links, and to harmonise phrasing or keywords in the past. Created by Adam Lewis, we go to his site here, and REALLY, REALLY think carefully through the consequences of doing a replace all, because we cannot easily undo it. I would recommend backing up the site content and design before doing this just in case there are unexpected outcomes!

I hope this helps someone :-D

Sam

References:

chiliNUT. (10 May 2021). How to find all and replace all on blogspot html editor?. StackOverflow. https://stackoverflow.com/questions/67465638/how-to-find-all-and-replace-all-on-blogspot-html-editor

Lewis, A. W. (2012). Blogger Find & Replace. https://www.adamwlewis.com/articles/blogger-find-replace?happy=1

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The PhD and apprenticeship

A decade ago, two PhD students from Aceh province in Indonesia wrote and presented a paper on their PhD 'apprenticeship' process (Habiburrahim et al., 2012) which I find very interesting.

Using self-narrative as their method, they formalised and flowcharted what they found to be their learning process. Shown accompanying this post (Figure 1: The PhD Learning Journey Model; based on Callaghan, 2009; Habiburrahim et al., 2012, p. 74), the model charts their process: from their beginning in the Australian academic higher degree by research (HDR) programme; to their journey to PhD completion. Along the way, the model shows the importance of PhD supervision with a 'master' and the dialogue around questioning, joint-discovery, and information sharing; concluding with the graduate outcomes of knowledge-creation, critical reflexivity and research.

The model Habibarrahim et al. (2012) formalised draws upon the foreword to a text on what comes after the doctorate (Callaghan, 2009). This discusses the learning process, talking about the "humility in learning", "being vulnerable and open" and the "benefit of the master’s experience being challenged by the apprentice’s fearless questioning" (p. iii). As PhD students we need to learn to be fearless so we can make our original contribution to knowledge; our SOCK (Brabazon, 2018).

It is fascinating to read these two international student views on being fearless: they come from "a culture where teachers are highly respected and students obey their teachers. To say ‘no’ to our teachers is considered rude" (p. 77). Yet they are undertaking HDR education in Australia which "is student-centred with students encouraged to engage in independent learning, to question, criticise, and [to] develop critical thinking" (Habiburrahim et al., 2012, p. 73). What is also very interesting is that these PhD students are teachers in Aceh: they are respected where they come from; they have entered a process where they go back to the beginning, becoming 'children' - apprentices - again in order to make their contribution.

I like the model they have formalised from the work of Callaghan (2009; Habiburrahim et al., 2012). While it could be better graphically designed (for example, showing that supervision begins at candidature not just at the 'conducting research' phase being the main failing), it highlights a relevant aspect of the PhD: that it is a journeyman piece. This is the mahi we do to meet our entrance into an elite club: that of becoming/being accepted as an academic researcher.

We return to our childhood to discover our own mastery.

Sam

References:

Brabazon. T. (2 June 2018). Vlog 115 - SOCK (Significant original contribution to knowledge!) [video]. Office of Graduate Research Flinders University. https://youtu.be/7QnSIE5msx8

Callaghan, P. T. (2009). Foreword. In C. Denholm & T. Evans (Eds.), Beyond doctorates downunder: Maximizing the impact of your doctorate from Australia and New Zealand (pp. iii-iv). ACER Press.

Habiburrahim, H., Fadliadi, F., & Bartholomaeus, P. (2012). Our unique journey in pursuit of a PhD. In the 10th Quality in Postgraduate Research Conference: Narratives of Transition - Perspectives of Research Leaders, Educators and Postgraduates, 17-19 April 2012, Australian National University Centre for Higher Education and Teaching, Adelaide Australia.

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Blow our minds with curiosity

Curiosity has been said to be "the lust of the mind" (Hobbes, 1886, p. 34). In fact, what the philosopher said was:

"Desire to know why, and how, CURIOSITY; such as is in no living creature but man: so that man is distinguished, not only by [...] reason, but also by this singular passion from other animals; in whom the appetite of food, and other pleasures of sense, by predominance, take away the care of knowing causes; which is a lust of the mind, that by a perseverance of delight in the continual and indefatigable generation of knowledge, exceedeth the short vehemence of any carnal pleasure" (Hobbes, 1651, p. 26; spelling and characters amended to 21st century conventions).

Curiosity is therefore a human drive that we all have; a "singular passion" to know which sets us apart from other animals over and above our base needs (Hobbes, 1651, p. 26). Phew!

But did you know there was such a thing as a curiosity quotient, or CQ? Apparently, having a high CQ quotient means that we have a "hungry mind" (Chamorro-Premuzic, 2014). This idea was first proposed by Friedman (2005), in relation to the intelligence quotient (IQ): that curiosity and passion together outweighed IQ. 

Those of us who have higher CQ scores are reported to be "more inquisitive and open to new experiences" (Chamorro-Premuzic, 2014). Routine is not for high CQ scorers, they are always seeking the new. Idea generators, and likely "counter-conformist', CQs are thought to be "more tolerant of ambiguity" and have "higher levels of intellectual investment and knowledge acquisition" long-term. They are the epitome of continuous learners (Chamorro-Premuzic, 2014). The CQ "nuanced, sophisticated, subtle thinking style defines the very essence of complexity", which grows our "[k]nowledge and expertise". What this results in is our curiosity quotient is our secret human sauce for "produc[ing] simple solutions for complex problems" (Chamorro-Premuzic, 2014).

There does not appear to be an assessment test for our curiosity quotient, but a list of tasks. Learn a new language. Watch films and read books which are outside our preferred genres. Meet new people. Explore our environment in new ways. Attempt to solve problems by skull sweat, not via Google. Bash through the barriers by brute brain-force alone.

Curiosity. Powerful stuff.

Sam

References:

EmojiTerra. (2023). Emoji: Testa Che Esplode. https://emojiterra.com/it/faccina-con-testa-che-esplode/

Friedman, T. (2005). The World is Flat: A Brief History of the 21st Century. Farrar, Straus & Giroux.

Hobbes, T. (1651). Leviathan, Or, The Matter, Forme, and Power of a Commonwealth, Ecclesiasticall and Civill (1st ed.). Andrew Crooke at the Green Dragon.

Hobbes, T. (1886). Leviathan, Or, The Matter, Form, and Power of a Commonwealth, Ecclesiastical and Civil (reprint from 1651 ed.). George Routledge and Sons.

Chamorro-Premuzic, T. (27 August 2014). Curiosity Is as Important as Intelligence. Harvard Business Review. https://hbr.org/2014/08/curiosity-is-as-important-as-intelligence

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Book versus chapter

When we have an edited book, what should we cite and reference? Just the chapter we are using? Or the whole book? That is a great question, and the answer is that it depends.

What does it depend on? Well, if we are using more than one chapter of an edited book, then we cite the whole book. But if we are only using the chapter, it is easier for our reader to connect with our evidence if we cite just the chapter. A couple of examples are below:

• (Crocket et al., 2011).
  Crocket, K., Agee, M., & Conforth, S. (Eds.) (2011). Ethics in Practice: A guide for counsellors. Dunsmore Press.
• (Agee et al., 2011)
  Agee, M., Crocket, K., Fatialofa, C., Frater-Mathieson, K., Kim, H., Vong, C. & Woolf, V. (2011). Chapter 1.3 Culture is Always Present: A conversation about ethics. In K. Crocket, M. Agee, S. Conforth (Eds.) Ethics in Practice: A guide for counsellors (pp. 28-32). Dunsmore Press.

But if we were wanting to cite an author whose story is particularly important to us, from a chapter citation where the author's name does not show in the citation, then we need to write a narrative around our citation. Taking the example of the references above, if we were only citing the chapter, we could tackle this as:

Within our nations, despite aims of egalitarianism, our individual cultural experience may vary significantly. Fatialofa, a member of the Pasifika community, notes that the "experience of our own culture may be different from the person sitting next to us" (Agee et al., 2011, p. 30).

Or if we were citing the book, because we were using more than one chapter, this would appear as:

Within our nations, despite aims of egalitarianism, our individual cultural experience may vary significantly. Fatialofa, a member of the Pasifika community, notes that the "experience of our own culture may be different from the person sitting next to us" (Crocket et al., 2011, p. 30).

I hope that helps!

Sam

References:

Agee, M., Crocket, K., Fatialofa, C., Frater-Mathieson, K., Kim, H., Vong, C. & Woolf, V. (2011). Chapter 1.3 Culture is Always Present: A conversation about ethics. In K. Crocket, M. Agee, S. Conforth (Eds.) Ethics in Practice: A guide for counsellors (pp. 28-32). Dunsmore Press.

Crocket, K., Agee, M., & Conforth, S. (Eds.) (2011). Ethics in Practice: A guide for counsellors. Dunsmore Press.

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Introducing approach motivation

I am sure we are all aware of the human striving to progress, which sits alongside our human attachment to the past (Sedikides & Wildschut, 2022). But are we all familiar with the term "approach motivation"? 

The theory of approach motivation was new to me, stumbling across it when reading a meta-analysis on nostalgia:

"Approach motivation is 'the impulse to go toward' (Harmon-Jones et al., 2013, p. 291) or 'the energization of behavior by, or the direction of behavior toward, positive stimuli (objects, events, possibilities)' (Elliot, 2006, p. 111). Approach motivation exerts a strong influence on human thinking and behavior (Elliot, 2008)" (Sedikides & Wildschut, 2022, p. 5).

Ah: it is unknown because I have heard of avoidance motivation, but not it's twin, approach. How weird is that? Why are we taught so much about avoidance, but rarely hear of its more positive sibling? Anyway, I guess that is a question for another day.

Basically, approach motivation is our drive to seek the new. To see new things, do new things, learn new things, desire new things. Approach motivation is what makes people shop beyond their means, but also to strive for success in sport, in research, and to better themselves. Not only is it a factor in avarice, it is also a factor in human curiosity. 

Approach motivation has two slightly contested elements - stimuli and the "valence of stimuli" or value - suggesting that the definition is still evolving (Harmon-Jones et al., 2013, p. 291). Stimuli has many meanings, but the one most applicable here is that it is "An agency or influence that stimulates to action or [...] that quickens an activity or process" (Simpson & Weiner, 1989, p. 702). There is some thought that stimuli does not necessarily need to be present for approach motivation to exist; and that it simply "may arise from internal processes at the trait [...] or state [...] level" (Harmon-Jones et al., 2013, p. 291).

In other words, thinking nostalgically may spur us to action: there has been no agency or influence other than our own. Does memory count as 'stimuli'? I do not know enough about this field of research to comment. 

But I do like this construct of approach motivation.

Sam

References:

Elliot, A. J. (2006). The hierarchical model of approach-avoidance motivation. Motivation and Emotion, 30(2), 111-116. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11031-006-9028-7

Elliot, A. J. (2008). Chapter 1: Approach and avoidance motivation. In A. J. Elliot (Ed.) Handbook of Approach and Avoidance Motivation (pp. 3-14). Psychology Press.

Harmon-Jones, E., Harmon-Jones, C., & Price, T. F. (2013). What is approach motivation? Emotion Review, 5(3), 291-295. https://doi.org/10.1177/1754073913477509

Sedikides, C., & Wildschut, T. (2022). Nostalgia across cultures. Journal of Pacific Rim Psychology, 16, 18344909221091649 1-16. https://doi.org/10.1177/18344909221091649

Simpson, J. A., & Weiner, E. S. C. (Eds.) (1989). Oxford English Dictionary (2nd ed., Vol XVI Soot-Styx). Clarendon Press.

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The emic and etic debate

I have written about this pair of research approaches before (here), but felt that there might be a bit more to say. 

These terms relate to two opposite approaches used in field research to assist us in gathering our data. We can either take an emic approach "from the perspective of the individual within a particular social group" or an etic approach "from the observations and interpretations of the outside researcher" (Carducci & Nave, 2020, p. 14). The terms arise from the work of "Kenneth Pike (1954) to describe phonetic similarities and differences in language, but has since been transformed to describe various culturally specific or universal aspects of human behavior" (Carducci & Nave, 2020, p. 14).

"Within cross‐cultural psychology the term etic is used to describe universal psychological truths that are fixed across all cultures. Emic refers to the cultural differences of psychological aspects that are specific to particular cultures. This approach has led to extensive testing of the tools researchers use when gathering data within and between cultures. Harry Triandis was an early proponent of testing the validity and reliability of psychological measures for clear and identifiable differences (Triandis & Marin, 1983). His work found that scales designed for a specific culture were more likely to find cultural differences than those that were created with the assistance of members of all of the cultures being studied. Research in this area has highlighted the importance of creating equivalent measures in order to determine which psychological principles can be considered universal, and which should be considered culturally specific" (Carducci & Nave, 2020, p. 14).

Further clarification can be found when considering the phenomena we are researching:

"The emic approach explores Indigenous psychological phenomena (i.e. personality) and the extent to which it is related to the culture in question. The emphasis is on the singular culture and the cultural context of the psychological processes, the relativist tradition. The etic approach attempts to understand behavior and relationships across cultures so as to delineate universal patterns of behavior (i.e. personality), much like the structural universalist paradigm advocates. Etic inquiries espouse Western research traditions and the utility of Western models and positivistic methods in the study of culture and personality. Consequently, etic studies are mainly concerned with the trait approach to the understanding of culture and personality" (Carducci & Nave, 2020, p. 97).

Both approaches have benefits and limitations, and perhaps the 'debate' is best explored as if it were a continuum. There is no reason why we cannot take a mixed methods approach in order to more fully explore our actual and potential biases and limitations. 

Lastly, in career practice we need to remember that many assessments "which are often considered to be culture‐free, actually contain bias or take an emic approach to culture" (Carducci & Nave, 2020, p. 146).

Sam

References:

Carducci, B. J., & Nave, C. S. (2020). The Wiley Encyclopedia of Personality and Individual Differences, Personality Processes and Individuals Differences. John Wiley & Sons.

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Why leadership is a contested concept

Thanks to an International Leadership Association (ILA) blog post by Keith Grint (2022), I was exposed to a paper by Gallie (1956). It is often said that leadership is an "essentially contested concept" (Gallie, 1956, p. 169), but I did not know that this harks back to a speech given by Gallie almost 70 years ago. The nature of an "essentially contested concept" (p. 169) relies on four 'conditions' proposed at a meeting of the Aristotelian Society in 1955, where Gallie proposed his argument. The four conditions are:

"(I) it must be appraisive in the sense that it signifies or accredits some kind of valued achievement" (Gallie, 1956, p. 171)

"(II) This achievement must be of an internally complex character, for all that its worth is attributed to it as a whole" (Gallie, 1956, p. 171)

"(III) Any explanation of its worth must therefore include reference to the respective contributions of its various parts or features; yet prior to experimentation there is nothing absurd or contradictory in any one of a number of possible rival descriptions of its total worth, one such description setting its component parts or features in one order of importance, a second setting them in a second order, and so on. In fine, the accredited achievement is initially variously describable" (Gallie, 1956, p. 171-2)

"(IV) The accredited achievement must be of a kind that admits of considerable modification in the light of changing circumstances; and such modification cannot be prescribed or predicted in advance. For convenience I shall call the concept of any such achievement 'open in character'" (Gallie, 1956, p. 172)

So... what does this mean? My take is that:

(a) Leadership must have value, or worth as a 'thing' in its own right;

(b) Leadership must be a complex construct of many parts which contribute to a whole;

(c) Leadership must be hard to define - slippery - like the old adage of people describing an elephant when only able to explore one small section, but that collectively we know what 'good' looks like

(d) Leadership is a concept that evolves over time.

Wow. It is always nice to know where things come from. 

Sam

References:

Gallie, W. B. (1956). Chapter IX: Essentially Contested Concepts. Proceedings of the Aristotelian Society, 56, 167–98. https://doi.org/10.1093/aristotelian/56.1.167

Grint, K. (2022). The War in Ukraine & Leadership as an Essentially Contested Concept. International Leadership Association. https://ilaglobalnetwork.org/the-war-in-ukraine-leadership-as-an-essentially-contested-concept/

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Drawing the threads of story

I first encountered narrative drawing therapy on a short residential course, many years ago. One of my fellow attendees was a narrative drawing therapy (NDT) practitioner, and we had many long hours discussing how this technique worked, when it was useful, and how to decide to use it. 

In career practice, "narrative" career could perhaps be defined as "a career story", which "is a personal moving perspective on our working life, including the objective facts and the subjective emotions, attitudes, and goals of our careers. We create stories retrospectively as a means of remembering day-to-day events, justifying our actions, providing coherence to our lives, projecting ourselves to others [...] and sometimes to plan for the future" (Inkson et al., 2015 p. 265). We tell ourselves - and others - a story.

Our story (the 'narrative') does not necessarily begin, progress, or end perfectly. We know there will be blind alleys, red herrings, turnarounds, repeats, back-tracks and restatements in order for one person - the client - to tell another - the practitioner - the story so well that the practitioner understands it. That they grasp the essence. This is the key: a "meaningful career narrative is not simply a matter of recounting events; rather it is about connecting life events into a meaningful whole" (McIlveen & Patton, 2007, p. 228).

With that 'wholeness' idea in mind, another approach is to have our client draw their narrative. Drawing therapy, or art therapy, "uses the creative process of art making to improve and enhance the physical, mental and emotional well-being" of our clients, creating story by using "visual narratives representations" which "connects 'head to heart'" (Harpaz, 2014, p. 1). This is the process of "externali[sing] internal thoughts and feelings" (p. 2). What is created does not have to be a proficient picture: it merely needs to be representative. The client can then walk us through it. It might be a map. It might be scribbled pieces. It may be textual and visual. It may involve the client moving through and acting out parts. 

As the practitioner, we do not ask "why" questions, but focus on the 'what' and 'how' elements: encouraging our client to create "an inner story replete with all the trappings of narrative form: settings, scenes, character, plot, and themes" (Harpaz, 2014, p. 2). We help the client to establish agency in creating - or recreating - their career narrative.

Why might we choose to experiment with drawing? Perhaps we might have a client for whom words come hard, or who struggles to step back from emotion in their story when 'telling'. Or a client who prefers to be physically active so finds telling difficult. Or a client who is very visual, who does not connect well verbally. We may have a client who has been made redundant, or one who cannot return to their current role through injury, accident or a change of technology. Through drawing therapy, clients may be assisted in putting aside grief and anger arising from a work situation so they can move forward with a clearer sense of self. 

We need to be careful in this work though: most career practitioners are not grief counsellors. We should not be afraid to refer our client on when a situation may cause the client harm, or is outside our area of expertise. Also, where possible, we should reach out for help from a trained NDT practitioner, or take a light and shared-exploratory approach with our client. 

I have worked with an older client who was injured, could not return to the preinjury job, and was stuck. Identity was compromised. The two of us were supervised by an experienced NDT practitioner. It was a very interesting and useful process. It helped my client to become unstuck, and to see where utility could reenter their lives. 

Sam

References:

Harpaz, R. (2014). Narrative Knowing: Narrative and Storytelling Resources in Art Therapy [paper]. Narrative Matters Conference 2014: Narrative Knowing/Récitet Savoir, Jun 2014, Paris, France. https://halshs.archives-ouvertes.fr/halshs-01081464/document

Inkson, K., Dries, N. & Arnold, J. (2015). Understanding Careers (2nd ed.). Sage Publications Ltd.

McIlveen, P., & Patton, W. (2007). Narrative career counselling: Theory and exemplars of practice. Australian Psychologist, 42(3), 226-235. https://doi.org/10.1080/00050060701405592

Further reading:

Grennan, S. (2017). A Theory of Narrative Drawing. Springer.

Morgan, A. (2000). What is narrative therapy?. Dulwich Centre Publications.

Sandelowski, M. (1991). Telling stories: Narrative approaches in qualitative research. Image: the Journal of Nursing Scholarship, 23(3), 161-166. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1547-5069.1991.tb00662.x

White, M. K. (2007). Maps of narrative practice. W. W. Norton & Company.

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PESTEL and scanning

We are probably all familiar with SWOT analysis: that business acronym which stands for Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats. Strengths and weaknesses are those which are internal to the organisation; opportunities and threats are outside the organisation’s control. And it is the 'outside' that we are looking at in this post: as the big wide world is often called the macro-environment (Young, 2020a).

The macro-environment is clustered into six  'standard' fields, so that we can consider the ramifications of change in those particular areas. I think the areas themselves are very useful, because these are all quite differing areas of impact for business: politics; economics; socio-cultural and demographic factors; technology; environmental issues; and legislation. We can get a brief overview of what each of these mean here (Young, 2020b).

What macro-environmental factors are for is for business scanning:

"Scanning is the activity of acquiring information"; "with a critical part [being] scanning for information about events and relationships in a company's outside environment, the knowledge of which would assist top management in its task of charting the company's future course of action" (Aguilar, 1967, p. 1).

If we don't have some type of frame or lens through which to consider change - as it is hurtling towards us - how we might miss some key opportunities or threats. How many school text book companies will not only be considering how technology can reduce cost, but also how few children are being born in the West? How many academic publishers will not be considering the legal changes in Sweden and Germany around tax-payer funded research and the cost of academic journals, while also considering the growing 'alternative facts' movement and distrust of science? We ignore any of these factors at our peril.

But what I find really interesting is that the PESTEL model is the work of one man: Francis Aguilar. And what is even more interesting, is that Aguilar wrote this seminal piece of work for his PhD in 1966. He got a very well-deserved prize for it (Aguilar, 1967). However, I am sure that if we asked almost anyone who talks the macro-environment, uses or quotes the factors, no one would have any idea that four of this little cluster of areas/lenses was down to the skull-sweat of one person. These four that was originally called "the external environment": economic, technology, political and social factors (Aguilar, 1967, p. 11). 

Of course, Aguilar didn't just come up with four areas. He also meticulously created a circuit diagram for scanning the environment, with a feedback loop:

This is quite clever: following through on any decision reminds us of particular steps which we may not have taken, decisions we have not yet made, considerations we have not yet faced. Most of us will know what these are once we have gone through this a few times, but for training, this is a lovely piece of work.

I think we can all find this useful. 

Sam

References:

Aguilar, F. J. (1967). Scanning the business environment. Macmillan Company, Inc.

Young, S. (2020a). How to undertake SWOT analysis. http://www.samyoung.co.nz/2020/07/how-to-undertake-swot-analysis.html

Young, S. (2020b). Macro-environmental scanning or PESTEL. http://www.samyoung.co.nz/2020/07/macro-environmental-scanning-or-pestel.html

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